ASCO preview – Anaveon seeks oncology partners

The privately-held company Anaveon looks like it’s using the upcoming ASCO meeting as a shop window for its now-deprioritised oncology assets. The Swiss group will present a poster on sunekafusp alpha, its PD-1-targeted IL-2R-βγ agonist, with or without Keytruda, from the phase 1/2 Expand-1 solid tumour trial. Whether results will be enough to drum up interest is another question; at ESMO-IO in December, Anaveon reported three responses among 42 patients, although two dose-limiting toxicities and an unrelated death were seen. Cytokine approaches have long disappointed, with several discontinuations including Nektar/Bristol Myers Squibb’s IL-2 asset bempegaldesleukin. However, the field had a boost last year with Takeda’s licensing of Innovent’s PD-1 x IL-2 project IBI363 for $1.2bn upfront. That asset is now in the pivotal MarsLight-11 trial, with more studies planned. Other PD-1 x IL-2 contenders include Teva’s TEV-56278 and Regeneron’s REGN10597. Further back in development, and also up for grabs, is Anaveon’s PD-1-targeted IL-21 project ANV700, but that’s yet to reach the clinic. Amgen’s similarly-acting latikafusp (AMG 256) no longer appears to be in development, while CD Biopharma’s CD-001 is in phase 1 in China. Meanwhile, Anaveon’s main focus now is ANV200, a PD-1 agonistic antibody for autoimmune diseases.

Anaveon’s oncology pipeline

Source: OncologyPipeline.